A cross‑sectional study to investigate the impact of focused group discussion on menstrual hygiene among rural school girls of Southern Haryana, India
نویسندگان
1 Department of Community Medicine, ESIC Medical College, Faridabad, Haryana, India
2 Department of Community Medicine, ESIC Medical College, Faridabad, Haryana, India
3 Department of Community Medicine, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India
4 Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, India
5 Department of Community Medicine, Santosh Medical College, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
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چکیده
INTRODUCTION: Menstruation is a natural phenomenon among women who experience sheddingof blood for 1–7 days every month which usually starts between age 11 and 14 years and continuesuntil menopause at about 51 years of age. It is important to maintain menstrual hygiene, as poorpractices increase vulnerability to reproductive and urinary tract infections. The present study wasconducted with an aim to investigate the impact of focused group discussion (FGD) compared todidactic lectures (DLs) on the menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices.METHODS: The present cross‑sectional study was conducted among 649 school girls during Januaryto August 2019 using a convenience sampling technique. After collecting baseline information usinga pretested, predesigned, standardized questionnaire, the participants in the control and interventiongroups were exposed for the DLs and FGD, respectively, and 1 month after such intervention, thesame questionnaire was again self‑administered by participants. All tests were performed at a 5%level of significance using SPSS (version 22.0).RESULTS: The baseline characteristics of both the groups such as participants’ mean age, meanage of menarche, mother’s literacy status, religion, type of family, and socioeconomic status werecomparable. There was a difference in the knowledge and practice mean score of participants inthe control group for pre‑ and postintervention, which was highly statistically significant (P < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals that menstrual hygiene is far from satisfactory among most ofthe school girls. The DLs and FGD have improved the menstrual hygiene knowledge and practicesamong school girls.
